Further Reading

Further Reading

Until today, the early termination fees of $350 for new smartphone contracts declined $10 each month. Customers who signed contracts before today will still see their ETFs decline the first month and all months thereafter. But customers who sign up today or later will not see any reductions until the eighth month, Verizon's updated customer agreement says. That means that after seven months, a customer's ETF would remain at $350 instead of declining to $280.

Under the new terms, ETFs will decline "$10 per month in months 8–18, $20 per month in months 19–23, and $60 in the final month of your contract term."

Similar changes were made to early termination fees for other devices. Standard Verizon ETFs of $175 apply to customers who sign two-year contracts with subsidized basic phones and tablets, including iPads. Previously, the $175 ETF declined $5 each month from the beginning. Going forward, the $175 fee will decline "$5 per month in months 8–18, $10 per month in months 19–23, and $30 in the final month of your contract term."

New Verizon customers can avoid contracts by paying off their devices in installments under the company's Edge program. But that deal got worse last month, when Verizon decided to make customers pay off a higher percentage of the cost of their phones before allowing them to upgrade to a new device.

Meanwhile, T-Mobile and Sprint offer to pay off customers' early termination fees if they switch from a competing carrier. Sprint's offer expires on January 15 while T-Mobile's does not have an expiration date. AT&T temporarily offered $450 in incentives to T-Mobile customers who switched to AT&T in January 2014 but ended the offer the very next month.

Until Verizon ceases to have the most outstanding LTE coverage in the rural areas I travel to, I will continue to convince myself that the nice times I enjoy in between the abuse is worth it in the end.

I'm never quite sure if that's true or if I'm just scared to break up a relationship I've grown comfortable with.